Posted on: Friday, November 8, 2019From the Office of the Chief of Police

On Monday, we welcomed our newest officer to the
MVPD. Officer Vanessa Cadena joined our
team and is currently assigned with a Field Training Officer and working
dayshift. Officer Cadena joins us coming
from the Galveston, Texas Police Department.
In addition to serving the community as a police officer, Officer Cadena
serves as a Sergeant in the United States Army Reserve. So, if you see Vanessa
working the streets, please feel free to give her a wave and a warm welcome to
the Villages.

Monday is Veterans Day. The MVPD is proud to have several veterans as
part of the MVPD team. Our vets include:

Sergeant L. Owens

Officer D. Bracht

Officer F. Lerma

Officer P. Torres

Officer R. Jarvis

Officer R. McElvany

Officer J. Burleson

Officer C. Schanmier

Officer V. Cadena

Thank you for your service to our country and our
community. To honor our veterans, the students at Memorial Drive Elementary
School hosted their annual “Hero’s Lunch” this afternoon. MVPD joined Hedwig PD, Spring Valley PD,
Spring Branch ISD and VFD for lunch in honor of our veterans.

This week, the MVPD team hosted a R.A.D. instructor
certification school which was for instructors who teach the defense specific
part of the curriculum. The training
attracted R.A.D. Instructors from several states who all instantly became very
jealous of the Memorial Villages Community. Several of the students told me how
envious they were of the clean community and beautiful homes along with the
proximity to area restaurants and shopping. Our MVPD R.A.D. instructors
participated in the training as well as acted as hosts for the other students.
Our team is now ready for our next regular R.A.D. Class that will be held
December 16-18, 2019. This R.A.D. Class
will be held from 10 am-2 pm over 3 consecutive days. This is the full regular
R.A.D. training which consists of classroom and high-intensive self-defense.
This class is being held during the winter break so that mother/daughter teams
can attend together. Of course, all women can attend this session and you can
attend alone or with friends. This will
be a ‘ladies only’ session, so please check your calendars now and make your
reservation soon as we anticipate this class to quickly fill up. Contact
Officer Michelle Owens at Mowens@mvpdtx.org

This week the MVPD has been the recipient of
everyone’s excess Halloween treats. Everything from power bars, fruit, cookies
and chips to every type of candy imaginable. Thank you for thinking of us. (I keep busy reminding all of our staff, that
our annual physical agility testing is scheduled for January).

As we continue to learn how to better utilize our new
Automated License Plate Reader (ALPR) we had 2 incidents this week where, had
the resident known their own license plate number, we could have used the
system to quickly locate their vehicle and know where they are or who may have
been following them. We are asking that
you keep note of your license plate number and have it readily available, that
way should we need to locate your car or truck, we can. Keep your license plate
numbers in the notes section on your phone or memorize them, so if we ever need
to do a quick locate, we can use this new tool to help you and our officers.

Also, yesterday we had an incident where some walkers
were harassed by a driver while walking along Memorial Drive near the Police
Department. The women quickly walked to
the MVPD and notified our dispatchers who in turn requested officers. We were
able to ascertain the license plate number of the harasser and officers are
following up. Additionally, the license plate of the suspect’s vehicle is now
in the ALPR system and should he return to the area, we will immediately be
notified, and we will intervene.

11/1/19 at 0800 Hours. 8400 Block of Katy Freeway.
Burglary of a Commercial Building. Officers were notified that sometime during
the night unknown suspect(s) had entered the building by prying open the front
without activating the alarm. Once
inside the business several small safes were taken from just inside of the
door. Detectives were notified and are working the case.

11/1/19 at 1715 Hours. 1-100 Block of Willowend.
Identity Theft. The victim reported receiving notice in the mail of a declined
application for a credit card. The
victim had not requested any new credit cards and upon inspecting her credit
report found multiple attempts to open accounts, with some of them actually
being opened. The accounts were linked to other addresses in the Houston area.
Additional research found more accounts in the victim’s name. One led to a local business where it was
learned that the person using the victim’s identity had actually submitted
information from another victim of identity theft to the business (victim
verified from Illinois). Information about the suspect and the transactions
were collected and provided to detectives for their follow up investigation.

Bunker Hill

11/4/19 at 1630 Hours. Briar Forest and Memorial.
Unauthorized Use of a Vehicle/Recovered. Officers were notified of a stolen
vehicle entering Hedwig Village at Echo and Mustang and began checking the
area. Officers located the vehicle traveling south on Blalock at Memorial.
Officers initiated a traffic stop and detained 2 occupants. The vehicle was
verified as stolen in August of 2019 from Spring, TX. (verified by the Constable and the victim).
The DA’s Office was contacted however, did not wish to accept charges due the
occupants claiming the vehicle had been repossessed. (no paperwork to validate
a repossession). The vehicle was recovered and towed pending release to the
owner.

11/6/19 at 1345 Hours. 200 Block of Stoney Creek.
Theft. The victim reported that sometime
between 1045 and 1130 a male subject has taken a package from her front porch.
A neighbor had observed the package earlier and a few minutes later noticed it
was gone and notified her. A check of nearby video cameras shows a white male
described as 50-60 years of age, large build wearing a lime green t-shirt,
back-pack and shorts near the residence. A check of the ALPR cameras located
the UPS truck but no suspect vehicle, which lead to the conclusion that the
suspect might have been on foot.
Information was obtained and provided to detectives for their follow up
investigation.

Piney Point

11/6/19 at 0400 Hours. 100 Block of Radney.
Unauthorized Use of a Motor Vehicle. Officers were notified of a stolen vehicle
entering the Villages at E. Creekside and Memorial. As officers began checking
the area the vehicle was observed on Memorial heading towards Voss. Officers
attempted to stop the vehicle however, the vehicle failed to immediately stop
and ran a red light. Officers were eventually able to stop the vehicle in the
100 Block of Radney. The vehicle was occupied by a female and contained a
quantity of possibly stolen merchandise from area department stores. The female was taken into custody and booked
into the MVPD jail. Detectives were
notified and are continuing the investigation.

11/7/19 at 0000 Hours. 11300 Block of Greenbay.
Driving While Under the Influence. While on patrol a MVPD officer observed a
vehicle traveling at 51 MPH in a posted 35 MPH zone and initiated a traffic
stop. Upon approaching the driver, the
officer observed signs of intoxication. Additionally, the driver was having
great difficulty getting his license out of his wallet and was confused. The
driver was given sobriety test which he failed.
The 65-year-old male was then taken into custody and booked into the
Harris County Jail.

Criminal Investigations Division

The MVPD investigative unit works numerous cases
on an on-going basis and while we do not always include all of their successes
in the weekly VLINC report, they do perform great work following up on cases,
obtaining arrest warrants and recovering property. This week Detectives Rodriguez and Kelso recovered
over $110,000 in stolen property. They continue to work this case and follow
all leads. An arrest warrant has been issued for the suspect. Great Work!